How long...? (can a macbook battery last)

[woofmarkthedog]

Mac book3/1 15"

2.2GHz

1.GB 667 MH2 DDR2 SDRAM

How long can it run on battery from 100% battery charged with just say e-mailing ect..........ish ?

I'm getting on average around 1 1/2 hours at the mo'

Is that normal ?

Any tips ?

W**F

[*Tee*]

Mine is exactly the same model as yours, i'm pretty cheesed off with mine actually as your lucky your getting that much out of it! Fully charged at 100% i get only say 3 quarters of an hr, i've booked mine in at the genius bar at regent street for them to look over, as it's not normal.

i have mine on the better energy savings and its still bad. Also one minute the battery will read 50%, then quickly jump to say 30%.

Having only 1 window at a time helps, instead of many.

*Tee*

[woofmarkthedog]

Tee

Thanks please keep me posted however, I really like my mac & have you tried a PC lately ? ( I have too & hate the clumsy things )

Exactly , so other than the battery issue...............

Happy days

W**F

[SteveT]

It sounds as if the battery is on its last legs *Tee*

All batteries have a limited amount of life so that 1 charge and 1 discharge is a cycle, and each battery has so many cycles.

Each cycle gives slightly less than the previous cycle.

Nickel metal hydride and lithium Ion are preferable to nickel cadmium.

NMH and LI give more cycles or last longer, give out more power, charge more readily, and hold their charge longer, but you pay more for them.

[Applespider]

I think System Profiler (in Utilities) can tell you how many charge cycles you've gone through. Assuming that you've also tried the recalibrations that Apple advise doing regularly?

45-90 minutes does sound particularly short though unless you're doing something that's massively HD, optical drive and processor intensive. I know the usage time remaining can drop suddenly (not so sure on just %) since it's based on what you're currently doing. So if you are just online reading websites, then it might be 50% but if you then start burning DVDs while watching streaming Flash video, it will drop.

Hope the Genius Bar manage to sort it out for you. I had a Macbook where the battery went bad (stopped accepting any charge) about 6 months in and they were able to just swap it out for me.

[sophiesofa]

Applesider, what's it called in utilities? I can't find it but I think I'm just being a bit stupid.

Also what is battery best practice for when you've got access to a plug?

Thanks

[SteveT]

In many parts of the world they have frequent power cuts, and the battery is a great back up.

[*Tee*]

Really pleased! the Apple store on Regent St swapped my battery for me after it was found it was a bad-un. They ran some test on it and confirmed, so happy days indeed.

The Genius guy said for normal day to day emailing, with only one window open, the charge should last aprox between 3-4 hours, being a new battery, then gradually reduce. He also said if your viewing high HD websites, or sites with flash etc or the like, this will run down the battery further.

This is my second faulty battery in 2 years, so if in doubt check it in.

*Tee*

[woofmarkthedog]

Ah haaaa,

How old/ young is your MacBook ?

W**F

[HAL9000]

Several cycles of deep discharge / full charge can occasionally rejuvenate some ? but not all - types of rechargeable batteries - see Google: how to rejuvenate rechargeable batteries.

Deep discharge is usually monitored with a galvanometer while a low resistance, high wattage shunt is placed across the battery terminals. It?s a dangerous procedure that should only be carried out by those who know what they are doing and have the right tools and equipment.

However, some level of rejuvenation may be obtained by charging the battery then leaving the computer switched on - but with energy saving cut-outs etc turned off - until the battery is fully drained. Note the time to discharge. Repeat until the time to discharge remains the same.

[*Tee*]

Purchased in Oct 2006. Battery that was purchased attached to it found to be a bad-un after high run down time. Apple swapped it! then that battery again, found to be bad (The one i just swapped on sunday), and they changed it again! i think in general their batteries are dodgy, what are the chances of 2 bad batteries?

never the less, my new one is great so far, i just hope it maintains it's charge. We will see!

if in doubt it doesn't hurt to get them to quickly test your battery. Test takes around 1 minute, Book an appointment first on line, through the apple website.

*Tee*